Nightmares
by Trixie
Summary: What is going on at Hogwarts that has Hermione frightened and Harry and Ron curious? Please Read and REVIEW!! This is part one to a saga.
1. Default Chapter Title

~~~~ This story is intended for anyone! It's a general audience thing, and I hope you like it! ~~~~

Hermione ran down the stairs to get to her Charms class. She was supposed to be there ten minutes ago, and for the first time in her years at Hogwarts, she was late to a class. She was in her third year here at Hogwarts, a school for the witch and wizard crowd. Crazy things always managed to happen here.

She turned the bend and ran by the picture of the talking pumpkin.

"Howdy do!", yelled the pumpkin as Hermione jetted past it.

She finally reached the Charms classroom and gently pushed the door open as not to interrupt the class too loudly. The Gryffindors had Charms class with the Slytherins this year, and Hermione knew how obnoxious they would be when they saw her walk in late.

"Well well well, if it isn't the genius child late to a simple Charms class!", yelled the snooty Pansy Parkinson. She was good friends with Draco Malfoy, who wasn't exactly the ideal guy either.

Hermione took her seat and watched as the professor marked her down as late. She sighed and took out her textbook, a quill, and paper. Harry and Ron, her two best friends at Hogwarts, gestured slightly at her, a wave from each of them. She waved back and then turned back to the front of the room.

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When Charms class finally ended, Harry and Ron packed quickly and jumped up to get to Hermione and find out why she was late. They ran to the front of the room, but on their way, Draco Malfoy stuck his foot out into the aisle. He stomped on Ron's robes and tripped him. Ron landed smack on his face.

"What's the big idea!?", yelled Harry as he pulled Ron back up onto his feet.

"_What's the big idea?_", mimicked Malfoy, and then with a snicker he added, "Potty and the Weasel....hehe."

Ron and Harry blankly stared at him as he got up and walked out the door. It was lunchtime, and they both knew everyone was in a hurry. Then suddenly, they remembered HERMIONE! They spun around to get to her, but she was already gone. All she had left behind was her quill.

"I suppose we need to give this back to her.", said Ron as he picked it up and put it into his pocket.

"Come on, we'll see her downstairs in the Great Hall.", replied Harry, and the two walked out the door.

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Harry and Ron sat down in their usual spot on the Gryffindor table, right between Seamus Finnigan and Neville Longbottom. Usually, Harry sat in the middle and Ron sat on his left, and they were sitting like this today, but on Harry's right was a blank seat.

"Was Hermione here yet?", he asked Neville, who was on the other side of Hermione usually.

"Yeah, she was here, but she only ate two pieces of chicken and then ran away!", answered Neville, his mouth full of mashed potatoes and gravy.

Harry and Ron glanced at each other and shrugged, then began to eat. They were both too hungry to worry about where Hermione was. Besides, she was a big girl, and she could take care of herself, without a doubt. And hey, what could possibly be wrong?

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When lunch ended, the two hurried up to Gryffindor Tower, where they usually met Hermione to grab their books for Defense Against the Dark Arts. But Hermione wasn't in the common room waiting for them. So they gathered their things themselves and walked slowly downstairs in case they passed Hermione in the hallway.

As they walked through the halls, they passed by Professor McGonagall's office and glanced inside. Professor McGonagall had an extremely worried expression on her face, and sitting right beside her with an equally unhappy look was Hermione! She was making no attempt to get up and make it to class on time. Just then, Professor McGonagall began to speak, in a whispered type of voice.

"Hermione, not a word can go out to anyone about what is going on. We don't want to cause a panic in Hogwarts that will get back to the parents. We all need to remain calm. I have already alerted the Ministry of Magic."

"You can count on me Professor...I haven't told a soul yet and don't plan on. I'm as scared as you are.", replied Hermione. She said this with an absolute blank expression on her face. She looked like she saw had seen a ghost, but ghosts LIVED in Hogwarts.

Just then, Lavender Brown skipped up to Harry and grabbed his arm.

"We're late!! C'mon!!!", she yelled at him, and then she ran down the hall.

"We better go.", whispered Ron.

"Yeah....we'll figure this out later.", said Harry. But he was unsure about what this was all about. He touched the scar on his forehead and pondered if he should ask Hermione what was so wrong. Should he tell her that he and Ron were outside McGonagall's door the whole time?

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~~~~ I HOPE YOU LIKED IT!! This is only part one, I will be back soon with a part two! Please review, please please please! ~~~~

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	2. Default Chapter Title

~~~~ This is Part Two in a saga of stories. If I were you, I would go back and read the 1st story if you haven't already, but then again, I'm not you, so read at your own risk. Please review, and thank you so much for reading my work here at fanfiction! ~~~~

Harry and Ron quietly walked to Defense Against the Dark Arts, both deep in thought. Ron jiggled the quill in his pocket a little and wondered what in the world could be so frightening that even Hermione didn't seem to have an answer to it. He wondered about the pale faces he had seen in McGonagall's office. He wondered if his father, Arthur Weasley would know, since he worked for the Ministry of Magic.

They got to their DADA class just in time before Professor Lupin got angry. Harry watched on as Professor Lupin opened a wardrobe and started showing the students clothing that will scare off different types of ghosts. Colors of clothing was also a great help.

"PINK!", yelled Lupin, and with another deep breath, he yelled a whole sentence, "REMEMBER THIS CHILDREN! PINK WILL SCARE OFF THE EVIL GHOSTS!".

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About midway through their class, Hermione walked into the door, calm and cool as a breeze, almost as though nothing at all had happened that was unusual that day.

"Good afternoon, Professor.", said Hermione, as she eased her way into the room. She proceeded down the aisle to the back of the room, where she took her seat next to Seamus.

Ron ripped a piece of paper out of his bag and quickly began writing a note to Hermione. When Harry tried to take a peek at what Ron was writing, Ron covered the note so just enough words were not visible in order to make it difficult to read. Harry backed away when he saw Ron's protectiveness, but just shrugged it off as though Ron would tell him later.

When Ron was done with the note, he took the quill out of his pocket and wrapped it into the note, then folded the paper around the object and passed it backwards from Dean, to Lavender, to Neville, to Seamus. Seamus then handed it off to Hermione, who took the quill out with a look of *whoa* on her face.

She read the note then, and as she did, her eyes widened more and more. She pondered to herself about what this meant. For in the note, Ron had wrote about how he was standing outside of McGonagall's door and had heard everything. Nothing about Harry, however, was mentioned. Hermione jotted down a reply and then passed the note back through the whole chain. Ron opened the note and read it. Hermione had written back that she would tell him what was going on later that night, 11PM, in the common room. He glanced back at her quickly, giving her the thumbs out. Harry just sat there, bewildered, waiting for Ron to fill him in.

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Later that night, at about 10:45PM, Ron prepared to meet Hermione downstairs in the common room. He slipped on a jacket, combed his hair, and tied his laces. At about 10:55 he was ready to leave the boys' dorm room, when Harry tapped him on his shoulder.

"Ron, before you go, do you think maybe you could fill me in on what happened in our defense classes? What did you write to Herm? And what did she say back? And...where are you going so late in the night? We have classes at 9AM tomorrow!", lectured Harry.

"NOT NOW!", hissed Ron, rather loudly. "I don't need your advice about our classes tomorrow, I'll be back in awhile! And I'll tell you later!!"

Harry backed off, thinking that maybe Ron was just in a bad mood, maybe overly tired, and decided to try dragging it out of him again tomorrow. Ron ran out the door in a hurry, closing it gently behind him as not to wake up the whole dorm. Harry laid back down in bed, but was unable to sleep. What was troubling Ron? What was in those notes? And the same question still remained, what was happening in Hogwarts?

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~~~~ Well you guys, I tried! I hope you liked! Please R/R, don't forget to continue reading my stories in this saga, they get better as they go along... I think anyway, teehee :). ~~~~

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